The Most Powerfully Magical Number
by AvadaKedavra1
Summary: Follow Adam, Derrick, Matt, and Cherry as their lives take a prophetic turn. Original characters based on the world of Harry Potter.
1. One

One

A crystal blue sky glistened across Northern Tennessee, adding a confusing element to a cold December day. Outside the windows of his cruiser, Adam Pearson knew it was downright frigid. He need not be fooled by the brightness of the heavens or the relative comfort he and his companions felt inside his warm car.

Adam drove as his girlfriend and two cousins rode in peaceful silence. Sitting up front was the love of his life, Emily. She held his hand while they drove through the sleepy town of White House just north of Nashville.

Emily's eyes were glassy with exhaustion as she gazed at farm after farm rushing past the windows. It had been a long few weeks for them all, and they were reaching the end of a very long year. In the back seat sat twin brothers Matt and Derrick Emberson. Almost fifteen years junior to Emily and Adam, these young men were rapidly reaching their twentieth birthday. They too dozed in bright sunshine, looking disheveled and drained.

Adam turned onto the last street of their journey, and one by one each of his passengers began to stir.

"It's so weird coming to Grandma's house, without Grandpa." Derrick said, fussing with his shaggy hair. "I'll never get used to him being gone."

"Hmm," Adam hummed, driving slowly into his grandparents' subdivision. "For the family that lives here, they say it's gotten easier. I think. For those of us who live elsewhere, it's definitely still a shock."

"I've never seen a family take a death so hard, to be honest." Emily smiled, looking back towards Derrick and Matt. "Especially considering it was sort of expected, you know?"

"Cherry, you cried, didn't you?" Matt asked of Emily, using her nickname. "I mean, I swore I saw you—"

"For your grandfather? Oh, definitely," she smiled. "I loved him dearly, it was really sad to say goodbye to him. Charlie was the best. He accepted me into your family when Adam and I were still in school. What was that? Third year, when you brought me to meet them?" Adam nodded from the driver's seat, looking at little spacey. "You forget, back then Adam was the only one magical in your family. Your grandfather didn't care. In fact he loved it. I never felt out of place or odd, even when my hair was ridiculous."

"You've got great hair, boss." Derrick interrupted, with a laugh.

"Thanks, but not today." Emily pulled down the front visor and looked at her auburn reflection. "Your Aunt Sally is far too conservative for my style. So for Adam, I keep it toned down when his mother is around."

"It's funny, our mother is a nightmare, but you all say she's your favorite," said Derrick speaking of his own mom. "Matt and I like Sally the most, she's so cool."

"Not if you're her kid," Adam added of his mother as he pulled behind a parked gray Suburban in his grandmother's driveway.

"That's what we say about our mom. It's funny how all the cousins say their parents are jerks, but they adore the aunts and uncles." Derrick leaned forward, noticing the other vehicles in the driveway. "Looks like the Bumbles are here, sweet."

"Aw, I may get to see 'my' triplets after all." Adam smiled.

"Aren't they staying at school? Something about Ray-Ray and Ali having Quidditch?" One of the boys in the back said.

"Well, I think Sara stayed behind for a Transfiguration project, so I guess it will just be their parents." Emily added.

"To imitate Ali, I say, B-O-R-I-N-G!" Matt sassed, causing everyone to laugh. Matt was imitating their younger cousin Alison, who was one of the three Bumble triplets currently in their third year at Salem's School for Witches and Wizards.

Adam turned the ignition off and leaned around to address his cousins in the back seat. "Okay, its Christmas, guys. As soon as we step out of here, we're family and the holidays are about family. So relax, spend time with your parents and your brother and sister. Do me a favor and keep the alcohol to a minimum, and try to at least pretend to eat healthy. We resume training in four days. For the next four days enjoy yourselves, and recharge those batteries, but remember it will be me and Cherry burning all that poison out of your system come Tuesday."

Both young men nodded.

"Try and keep your wands away at all costs. The Harmon cousins will be here, and you know their holy-roller ways can't fathom our lifestyle."

"I think Uncle Chip and Aunt Donna would rather we were gay, to be honest." Matt snapped.

Emily laughed a quick snort before covering her mouth and trying to look serious.

"When I became a wizard," Adam continued, "it was a secret in this family. When you two got your letters, it was harder to hide, but late at night we would talk about it after the kids went to bed and the cocktails ran the holy-rollers out of the room."

"That was such a cool day, Adam. I still look back on that and smile." Derrick said while pumping his fist.

"Indeed, but now that 'my' triplets are in school, it's all a matter of public record. The Harmon kids just don't understand, and of course their parents do nothing to soften the controversy. So let's not get into any sort of conversations or debates about magic, okay? Just refer them to their parents."

"Lisa is an adult now, and she's just as nosey as ever, so avoid her, too." Emily added. "Or you're liable to get preached to."

"Yeah and no Confunding or Stunning relatives, do you understand me?" Adam raised a pointed finger to Derrick.

"B-O-R-I-N-G!" laughed Matt.

The group shared one last quick laugh before stepping out into the cold. Emily cringed and reached for Adam's arm as the frigid wind caught her. Together they walked up the front walk of their Grandmother's home to find her already waiting for them at the door.

Grandma's smile was immediately contagious to the new arrivals and seemed to take the ice out of the air. She ushered them inside quickly and out of the weather. At once, a long line of relatives, more than fifteen, formed an informal receiving line for hugs and holiday greetings. This group—these four—had been away for a very long time, and their arrival was most-welcome.

Emily, being gracious, found Adam's mother, Sally, before anyone else. They exchanged sincere holiday greetings and hugs, before Sally asserted her dormant, yet overbearing maternal instincts toward Emily. Adam's mom was genuine, albeit annoying, and had the very bad habit of treating her three grown children like toddlers.

In an attempt to be warm and kind, Sally fussed over Emily's diminishing weight, having no idea what the poor child had just been through. Standing in the crowded entry way Emily smiled through compliments and questions about her new hairstyle. Sally knew the witch could change hair color at will. She also knew most wizards grew and cut their own hair. Nevertheless, the motherly questions still came out. "Oh, what a lovely haircut, was it expensive?"

Finally, Adam's youngest sister, Janis, with her two year old son in her arms, moved in to rescue her adopted sister with a hug.

"Aunt Cherry!" Janis's son, Nicholas, squealed with extended arms. As Emily took hold of Nicholas, Adam swooped in to deflect his mother's attention from Emily to himself, allowing her to escape.

On the other side of the room, Matt and Derrick were alternating hugs and fist pounds between their sister and brother. Parents David and Linda were also right in the fold. Matt and Derrick becoming wizards was a significant challenge for this group. Being Muggleborn is one thing, but they really weren't considering Adam was a wizard. In fact, it was Adam and Emily who brought the boys their first school letters. David and Linda were Muggles, as were older siblings Kelly and Andy. Through the hugs, even across the room, only an idiot would miss the fact that Matt and Derrick's family missed them very much.

Though there were many other greetings and embraces, the only other couple of note were Barb and Ray Bumble. They put on good faces at the arrival of these four, but their faces quickly turned sad once the excitement wore off. Barb and Ray had three children—triplets—Alison, Sara and Ray Junior. Halfway through their third year at Salem's, the children chose to remain at school for the holidays. That disappointment, for their parents, was obvious.

Adam walked up and hugged Barb. They had a fantastic relationship, and Barb trusted him without hesitation. He looked after her only children in the magical world since she too was a Muggle, and that made the bond between them insurmountable.

"Hey, Babs," Adam smiled as she took a sip from her Martini glass. "Sorry I've been away. Are we gonna see our trips soon?"

"Christmas Eve, hopefully before dinner and then they will stay here until term starts again, thank God." Barb's face definitely lit up as she spoke.

"Aw, that's great. Staying at school is so much fun for them. I used to love it. But they know we all miss 'em, and they'll be home real soon." Adam admitted, trying to offer some reassurance.

"Oh, well you just stayed so you could be alone with Emily." Barb laughed, being playful. "It's hard, they're growing up so fast, and they're so busy. I refuse to stand in their way, but I miss 'em so much."

"And they know that, Barb. Every time I see them, they ask a thousand questions about you and Ray. Do they write often?"

"Oh, all the time, but it's not the same."

It took a good ten minutes for Adam, Emily, Matt and Derrick to say hello to everyone, but eventually the room settled down and people found seats. Grandma fussed about, individually reminding everyone over the age of eighteen that the bar was open. White House, Tennessee may be a sleepy little dry town nestled in the buckle of the Bible Belt, but Grandma Martha had a liquor cabinet worthy of admiration from even the most casual of drinkers. If you couldn't find the booze you needed in her cabinet, well, you could always check her liquor closet, or if all else failed, hit up the reserves in the garage. Drinking in this family was just a fact of life, and even though you had to be twenty-one to drink legally in the United States, in Grandma's house, eighteen was close enough.

Grandma's daughters Sally, Barb and Linda helped her in the kitchen as she laid out enough food to feed an army. On occasion, meals were formal, but most of the time, it's everyone for themselves and after almost an hour, the entire family was well-fed. Children disappeared into bedrooms to watch television and to play in peace leaving the adults huddled in small packs of conversation throughout the common areas.

Adam headed towards the living room and could see Emily sitting in a recliner talking to Big Ray. As he moved through the hall his path was impeded by his cousin Lisa Harmon and her younger brother Steven.

"Hi, Adam," Lisa smiled giving him another hug.

"Lisa Brooke," He smiled a polite, yet fake smile before turning toward her brother. "What's up, Cousin Steven."

Steven looked uncomfortable, which was nothing new for the boy. He was adopted from somewhere in Europe when he was four. The only polite thing to say about the boy was that he was a very unstable and very disturbed person. There were behavioral issues and intense emotional scarring, so Steven lived a very, very challenged life for a fifteen-year-old. As sad as it was, adding an extremely-religious upbringing into the mix made him a very unpleasant person to be around. Conversations with him always turned disagreeable. Adam held his breath waiting for the bomb to explode. He tried to squeeze past the two, but they seemed intent on conversing.

"I love Emily, Adam." Lisa spoke first. "She's so pretty!" This was a typical statement for a Harmon child. As if looks alone defined someone's quality.

"Thanks," Adam said sarcastically. "I do like the pretty ones, you know."

"When're you guys gonna get married? You're getting so old!"

"Ha!" he laughed, pretending the question was funny. "I don't know. I ask her every day, but I think she is still holding out that someone better will come along."

"Are you still a witch, Adam?" Steven asked quite rudely.

"No, Steven, witches are girls." Adam moved around to try and escape. "But, yes, I am still a wizard."

The really annoying part of these conversations was that Lisa stood there casually, as if it was okay to ask. She knew as well as Adam, that Steven was about to preach. The truly sad fact was that in Lisa's mind, this was perfectly acceptable.

"God says witchcraft is the Devil's work." Steven continued, trying Adam's patience further.

"Well, then you might not want to stand too close to me, kiddo. God might try to strike me down and miss, in turn hitting you." The lecture to his cousins in the car was always more for his benefit than theirs. Adam had the world's shortest fuse for this sort of conversation because he had been getting it for almost twenty years.

"How can you sleep at night knowing you are breaking God's law?" again Steven continued.

"Quite well, actually. Steven, as I have said before, not everyone believes what you do. So why don't you just let people do what they want, huh? It was nice talking to you, kid." With that, he finally moved past the boy.

"God says –"

"God says that you shouldn't touch pork, Steven." Adam interrupted. "How's your ham sandwich, kid, is it delicious?"

Steven looked down at the plate of food in his hand and then looked up angry. "Everyone knows you are going to Hell, Adam."

"Thanks for the heads up, at least I will get to see old friends. Now, why don't you go and annoy someone else."

"Hey!" Lisa yelled, drawing looks from other family members.

"Magic isn't real, Adam. Only God is." Steven chastised.

"I'm done with this." Adam turned his back to them.

"You don't have to be a jerk, Adam. He's just a boy." Lisa scolded, acting twenty years older than she was.

"How am I being a jerk, Lisa? Being a jerk would be pulling out my wand and showing him it's real. And if I really wanted to be a jerk, we could have a little contest to see just exactly what is real and what can be proven. But, oh no, I have to be the adult here. I don't question your life or your beliefs, so why don't you two just go away before I turn you both into something unnatural."

"Asshole," Steven said, just low enough that his parents couldn't hear.

"Oh, Steven, that's very Christian of you. Just like your sister, you obviously have no concept of that whole brain-to-mouth thing. Get lost."

Adam moved into the living room while ten sets of eyes followed him. He sat on the arm of Emily's chair as she reached out and grabbed his hand. Big Ray shook his head as Adam looked frustrated. Being an in-law, Ray very publicly aired his discontent about the Harmon children and their ultra-religious ways, especially when they cornered his children.

Of the ten other people in the living room with Adam, Emily and Ray, none of them were Harmons. In fact, all were tied to magic in some form or fashion, being either parents or siblings to the wizards in the family.

Matt and Derrick's father, Uncle David spoke first in his usual quiet, yet profound tone. "Adam, just ignore it, they're only trying to get a rise out of you. "

"Well, it worked. It always does."

"What're they saying?" Linda asked, who was sitting on the couch between her sons Matt and Derrick.

"They asked when Emily and I were going to get married."

"As if!" Emily sassed. "I'm still waiting for someone better!"

"I know! That's what I said!" Adam replied to everyone's amusement. "At least they didn't go on about making an honest woman out of you! Ha!"

"Yeah, that ship sailed long ago." Emily said smacking Adam's leg. Everyone continued to laugh for a few minutes, before Barb spoke up.

"Okay, so let's have it." Barb started from across the room. "My kids say you guys have been up to something—that something is going on in your world."

Emily, Adam, Derrick and Matt each looked uncomfortable. Adam shuffled his plate to an end table and grabbed his cocktail taking a big gulp.

"It's been a long year, to be sure." Emily said, looking to Adam.

"We, uh, well, we had a busy month. But thanks to a lot of luck, and some great wand work by our two rookies over there," Adam pointed to Matt and Derrick. "We dealt a crushing blow to an illegal organization. So this holiday is not just a vacation for us, but a pseudo graduation for your kids."

"I can't wait. I'm freaking exhausted, yo!" Emily cheered, raising her glass.

The Muggles in the room looked to each other, before Barb continued. "Is this anything Ray and I should know about?"

"Oh, Barb, no!" Adam set his drink down and looked directly at her. "You know what Emily and I do, as Aurors. We're the cops in our world. Derrick and Matt are training, and although we're training them, all we do is fight crime. What we were involved in is just that—crime. We dealt with it, but it's really no different than some drug lord operating out of this city. It was big for us, but not really national news, if you get what I am saying." 

"You guys look really tired," Linda added, "And my boys look beaten up."

"I think they look great, mom," said the twins' older sister Kelly, sitting on the floor next to her fiancé, Angel. "They're so buff!"

"Thanks, sis!" said Matt, turning to face his mother, Linda. "The work has its dangerous moments Mom, and there were some tight spots. Lucky for Derrick and me, we're well looked-after. Cherry's got my back!"

"And Adams got mine," Derrick added with a smile.

"Indeed," said Emily raising her glass to her student.

"Why do they call you Cherry, Emily?" asked Angel. Angel was Kelly's longtime boyfriend and just recently became her fiancé. When Kelly was in town for a visit, she'd been bringing Angel around for years.

"Um," Emily looked to Adam, and then to Kelly.

Kelly smiled, "He's been briefed, Em. When he put the ring on my finger, he got 'The Talk.'

"Well, I can change my hair color at will, Angel. It's a hereditary thing that not many can do. Actually, I can change my entire appearance at will."

"Which comes in very handy in the bedroom, let me tell ya!" Adam said to an assortment of boos from the ladies in the room followed by laughs from the men.

"Anyway, Asshole, my natural hair color is whatever I want it to be. When I was in school it was my mission to have the most obnoxious color I could come up with. As I got older, I settled on a select few favorites. Mostly, its bright white, even though I have it brown today. That's what I wear from day to day, occasionally adding some streaks of said obnoxious color."

Angel wasn't the only one following Emily's every word.

"Anyway, they call me Cherry because my other color is cherry red. Like, an unnaturally bright red, like right out of a can of paint."

"Ah, gotcha," said Angel, not sure if he really understood.

"What she means to say is," Matt said, taking over for Emily. "Day-to-day, she wears white, but the Fire Engine red comes out when she's involved in some bitchin' magic. Like when we go on an operation or are having a duel or something. So, the red's an intimidation thing. If you see it, you are in trouble because she's got her game face on."

"Oh, nice!" said Uncle David with a nod.

"I keep my hair short, mostly, even when it's white. But when it's time to really throw down, its long, and straight, and bright red. It makes me feel like a witch, and in turn, makes me feel powerful."

"Do your feelings feed your magic?" asked Angel.

"A bit," Adam added. "I mean, they have an effect, but there is so much we don't understand as it pertains to emotion. We know that love and hate are the most powerful, obviously. But that's really it, although confidence is a big deal just like in anything."

Linda looked at her two boys and smiled. "Well, I am just glad my boys are here. Thank you guys for looking after them, and teaching them." 

"Oh, Linda," Emily laughed, "We've long passed the point where Adam and I teach them anything. Now, it's just about nurturing strong investigative skills, and proper technique, which they're learning quite quickly."

"Since they're in civilian clothing, am I to assume they're out of training?" Asked Linda, looking over her youngest sons' attire.

"Ha, no." replied Adam, who reached for a bite of food from the coffee table.

"They've still got a bit more, and then their Boards. If they pass, which they should, they'll become fully-fledged Aurors and take on an active caseload." Emily looked to Adam, as if looking for reassurance before continuing. "And to answer your question, no, they are not yet allowed to wear Muggle clothing. It's all a part of the disciplinary and training process. It keeps them in the proper mindset."

"Um," Kelly said, looking confused.

"We are wearing our robes, Kel." Matt answered his sister. "It looks like I am wearing jeans and sweater, but in fact, these are my robes."

"All of us are wearing our work robes," Adam looked down at his shirt, and brushed off a few crumbs. "Aurors are always on-call; it just saves time, not having to change."

"I don't understand," said Angel.

"There is an aspect of magic called Transfiguration, Angel." Emily smiled at him. "Changing an object into something else. We dress in our robes, which have magical qualities for protection and small amounts of armor, and then we change their appearance to resemble Muggle clothing. In the event, we are needed for duty, it is a simple incantation to remove the effects."

"Wow, fascinating."

Steven appeared from one of the back bedrooms holding an empty plate, obviously looking for a refill. He managed to catch the tail end of the conversation as he walked through the living room toward the kitchen. As was typical behavior for him, he felt the need to comment on the conversation, magic in general and God, as he passed through. No one paid him any mind as he passed through to continue stuffing his fat face with junk food, sweets and caffeine.

The conversation in the room shifted from magic to regular events and people's lives. Angel and Kelly talked about their engagement, and Andy talked about his life at university.

The day stretched into evening and everyone enjoyed each other's company. Grandma kept pouring drinks and made sure the appetizers remained fully-stocked. Eventually, Big Ray got up and demanded the adults start a Poker game, which was a fine tradition they picked up with the recent increased-popularity of Texas Hold 'Em.

Emily and Kelly cleared off the dining room table as Ray and Matt sat down and started dividing Poker chips. People began throwing money into one of Grandma's vases, and one by one the family and friends moved to the dining room.

Adam wasn't sure if he actually saw the Cheetah Patronus appear in the living room or not, but for one mad second he actually considered reprimanding one of his students for casting it in front of Muggles. However, neither Matt's nor Derrick's Patronuses were a cheetah. Whomever cast the cat that stood silently in his grandmother's living room, Adam didn't know.

Emily appeared beside him, along with their two trainees, and they all stared at it, glowing white. No one made a sound, wizard or Muggle, all stunned into silence.

The cheetah opened its mouth, but did not speak, and then opened it again, and again made no sound.

"Who do we know that casts a cheetah?" whispered Emily as Adam shrugged.

"Maybe they were interrupted before they could send a message," Derrick said as a matter of fact.

"It would disappear," Emily said as the cat again opened its mouth.

Emily drew her wand, appearing to have enough of standing around. "You two," she said looking to Matt and Derrick. "Perimeter! Now!"

Matt and Derrick each drew their wands and shuffled past other relatives.

"I'm sorry, Martha," Emily said, looking to Adam's grandmother, "Something's not right. We're going to set up protections around your home."

Grandma didn't even flinch in a response. She, like everyone else in the room had eyes only for the silver and white Patronus standing on the dark hard wood floor. The only person speaking was Steven, who was ranting about heresy, but as always, everyone ignored him.

Adam drew his wand and walked toward the cheetah. With a flick, he commanded, "Reveal your secrets."

The cheetah opened its mouth, and again it did not speak.

Derrick appeared from the garage just as Matt came up from the basement, and both twins reported finding nothing of significance.

"Cherry, I'm releasing," Matt said, waving his wand over his sweater. With a whoosh of air, his robes appeared—charcoal-gray with yellow trim. Derrick followed Matt's lead and did the same.

Family members began to mutter quietly while Adam and Emily tried to figure out who sent the Patronus and why it hadn't faded. Finally, the silvery cheetah opened its mouth and let out a noise. An ear-crunching scream in a female voice forced Adam backward, away from it.

"Was that Ali?" Barb yelled stepping forward. "That was Ali! I swear I know my own child's voice."

Emily looked to Adam who was getting to his feet, and then to Derrick and Matt.

"This'd better be a really bad joke," Matt said looking angry, yet serious. "Since when can a third year do a corporeal patronus?"

"Let's assume it's not a joke. Jump to Salem—you know the place." Adam snapped, taking charge. "Matt and Derrick you're with me, Cherry, get my cousins back here now!"

Emily nodded, raised her arms over her head, and vanished with a crack!

Steven watched her vanish and ran screaming from the room.

"Salem's?" Derrick sighed, looking to Adam. "That's a really big jump."

Adam pulled his wand closer and grabbed a hold of Matt and Derricks' robes. Together, with Adam in control they turned on the spot and were gone.

The next few minutes seemed like days. Lisa immediately opened her mouth to comment, but half the family shut her down. They all stood silently in a large circle staring at the cheetah, which made no sound after its initial scream. Steven returned to the living room, asking questions no one answered. Linda, David, Kelly, Angel and Andy held silent vigil for Matt and Derrick. Barb and Ray stood hand in hand fearing for their children, Alison, Sara and Ray Junior. Sally, Janis and Nicholas stood quiet for Adam and Emily. At the apex of the circle stood Grandma, holding strong for all of her missing grandchildren.

After ten minutes, the only change was that the cheetah had vanished. Which was neither good nor bad, but the looks on the faces of those who remained in the circle slipped into a darker state as time passed. Just as Barb was about to explode from tension, the living room was engulfed in a loud pop! A blast of frigid air forced people to look away, and when they looked back to the center there were two new people, covered in snow, standing huddled arm in arm.

Emily stood up, her hair long and fire red, as Sara released her grip and tried run to her mother. Emily reached out from her jet-black robes and grabbed Sara by the back of her school robes. She turned around to face Emily, looking scared to death.

"Sara, you three did wonderfully, now listen to me." Emily said in a stern voice, dropping to her knees to look the child in her eyes. "You keep your wand out, until I say otherwise, do you understand me?"

Sara nodded, looking panic stricken with glossy eyes.

"If you see anyone you don't know you have my permission to curse them stupid, okay?" Emily's voice was calm, yet shaken as she barked orders to the teenager. "And if anyone you don't know shows up here, the charm is Protego Totalum. Do you understand? That will lock everyone out of this place, okay?"

Sara nodded again and pulled out her wand.

"Remember what we've always told you, okay? You're a bright girl, keep it simple. I'm gonna go get your brother and sister."

Emily released her grip on Sara, looked up to Barb and Ray with a very serious look on her face, but said nothing. Emily stood up, pulled her flame red hair out of her face and vanished.

Again the family was left in silence as Sara found her mother and fathers arms at last.

It took only two minutes for Emily to arrive again. This time she held Ray-Ray as she appeared with a pop. She released him, but Ray-Ray did not want to be left behind. He held on to her, but she pushed him away hard. The look on her face was one of pure determination, but Ray-Ray too was determined to not be taken out of the fight.

Another Pop! Derrick appeared with Alison.

"Cherry!" Alison yelled half excited, half scared, but Emily only had eyes for Derrick.

"Where's Adam?" She asked.

"I saw you breaking up Ali and Ray and I came to help." Derrick shook his head. "I counted five near you, so I broke contact. That makes nine total, at least that I have seen."

"Get back there, I'm right behind you." Derrick was gone before Emily finished the statement. She turned to the triplets.

"You three, you work together, if anyone shows up here, Sara knows what to do. This is not school! You defend yourselves with force, do you understand me?"

The three Bumble children nodded, and Emily vanished.

The Muggle adults tried to question the Bumble kids, but there was very little to tell. They'd been attacked at school and really had no idea what was going on. The triplets were more determined to carry out Emily's orders than answer questions.

The twenty minutes of silence were an eternity before Matt appeared in the center of the circle. Blood trickled from his nose and the back of his neck, as he dropped to his knees. He was out of breath and looked heart broken. Alison, Sara and Ray-Ray stepped forward looking curious, but Matt ignored them, raising bloody hands to his face and running them through his hair.

He looked at his wand, made a sour face and then threw it across the room. Matt looked like he was about to cry.

Another pop, Derrick appeared directly behind his twin. Matt didn't move; he knew it was his twin.

Derrick dropped his head with a sigh and did not answer anyone's queries. He reached out and grabbed his brother's shoulder as Ali walked up.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Oh, Ali you're bleeding, love," Derrick said distracted, raising his wand to her and fixing a gash over her eye. "Let's clear out. Adam and Emily will be here shortly." His voice broke as he pulled Alison aside, making room.

"Did you see it, Derrick?" Matt asked, getting up from his knees.

His brother nodded with a grim face.

An arctic burst of air filled the living room, blowing everyone's hair back and averting their eyes. Adam and Emily appeared laying arm in arm, covered in snow on Grandma's hard wood floor.

Adam sat up and stared up at the ceiling, as Derrick and Matt fell to their knees.

Ray-Ray noticed first that Emily did not stir.

"Cherry?" Ray-Ray whispered seeing the tears that streaked Adam's face.

"Oh, no," Janis gasped, covering her son's eyes.


	2. And Two

And Two

28 Hours Earlier

Six in the morning always came quickly on the days of an operation. Regardless of how seasoned she became to crime fighting, Emily Darr always found the anticipation of combat far more distasteful than the act itself.

She couldn't sleep; there was no sense in trying. The clock nearest to her side of the bed read twenty minutes to six. Its digital numbers cast a red glow, illuminating a path out to the living room. Finally admitting defeat, Emily sat up and let her feet hang over the edge of the mattress. Behind her, Adam slept a soundly as ever, breathing deep and slow. Adam never had any trouble resting before a big day, something Emily found both annoying and calming. Her mind raced too much for peaceful sleep, and she worried about what the next twelve hours might bring.

She grabbed her cloth robe and stood to slide it on over her pajamas. Her arms made their way over her head as she stretched and arched her back. Bare feet noiselessly advanced across the chilly hardwood floor as she opted to let Adam enjoy the last twenty minutes of his dreams without her incessant fidgeting.

Walking into the living room of their condo, she immediately felt the heat of the smoldering fireplace warm up her toes. Amber light flickered across the walls and across a lump snoring on her sofa. It was surely Derrick Emberson, as he had snored since he was a boy. Emily looked around the room further and was not surprised to find the other couch vacant, the one that should sleep Derrick's twin brother Matthew.

Matt was very much like Emily, which was fitting because he was assigned to her. Perhaps she passed on her nerves to him; then again perhaps his meditative ways just nurtured the deep thought. At this time of day Emily knew exactly where she would find Matt; outside. Making her way to the kitchen she prepared a mug of water, heating it to just below scalding with a quick snap of her fingers. The smell of strong coffee began to permeate from her mug as she held its heat between her two hands and moved towards the balcony overlooking the river.

The bite of Indianapolis' December air never found her frame, as she walked outside into the night. As expected, Matt too was out, sitting in a reclining chair under a gigantic throw. His area heating charm made the balcony resemble someplace desert dry. Emily sat down across from him and without making eye contact kicked her bare feet up to the railing. Matt did not flinch at her arrival; instead he remained completely silent aside from the low, deep drags from his cigarette.

"I'm not surprised to find 'you' out here, kiddo." Emily said after almost a full minute of silence. Her voice stayed low and soft in an attempt to not sound condescending.

"I don't know how they sleep on a night like this," Matt responded, exhaling smoke and flipping his cigarette over the railing. Without hesitation, he reached inside his robes and produced another one. He tapped his wand making the balcony glow in the red light cast from the ember of his cigarette.

Matt and Derrick were identical twins and Adam's first cousins. Nineteen years old, they were a few months into their third and final year of Auror training. Even though the two boys had spent almost every day of their lives together, there was nothing similar about them.

"Everyone prepares differently, Matty."

"I can't sleep through that snoring," Matt smiled, making eye-contact with Emily. She could tell he was ready by the stoic look on his face.

Emily sipped her coffee and stared off the balcony to the Indianapolis skyline. Matt continued to take slow puffs off his cigarette as he too dazed off into the distance. The eastern sky began to birth a soft orange glow. Sunrise was on its final approach.

Soon, everyone would be awake, but Matt was ready now. Emily could see this as plainly as she could see the skyline. Just ten hours earlier, she and Adam informed their two students of a change in operational policy. For this mission, the Emberson boys would be taking their places as full team members, advancing beyond merely following their trainers around.

Matt and Derrick each had their own assignments, which would be executed without any supervision. Though the majority of the danger fell to Emily and Adam, their jobs were not without risk.

"You really think we're ready, Cherry?" Matt asked softly, words meant for only his mentor.

"I think the better question is do you think you're ready?" she replied.

"Hell, I thought I was ready before we started training."

"True enough," she laughed. "Adam and I talked it through; it's been coming for some time. Besides, this isn't much of an operation; we probably are just wasting our time."

"Really," Matt said with a sarcastic smirk. "If this is so routine then why can't you sleep?" 

"Okay, not completely routine." 

"Okay, well, I have a question. I mean, I understand the plan, which is great. I understand what to do if we get separated. I understand the codes, contingencies, and procedure; I got all that." He sat forward and turned to face Emily. "What I don't understand is this. If this joker is so smart, and so elusive, then why is—"

"He moving around alone?" Adam said, walking up from behind them.

Matt looked to his right to see his cousin standing in the doorway with his twin brother Derrick right behind him looking tired.

"Yeah, basically," Matt answered Adam's question.

"Because Jon Alvitre is a paranoid, delusional and egotistical creature of habit," Adam said as a matter-of-fact. "This intelligence is either right or wrong. You guys are putting too much stock in it. Sometimes the information is good, other times it's not. Most of the time it's partially correct."

"We do know this," Emily jumped in. "All of the Department of Magic pressure on his business is definitely getting to him. We have raided his shops, arrested his people, and seized his assets. The wizard is totally feeling our pressure. When he gets paranoid, he does everything himself. I know, I've been studying him all year. He thinks he's making himself safer, but in reality he's more exposed."

Adam and Derrick moved out onto the balcony and sat down by Emily. Matt picked up his pack of cigarettes and tossed them to his brother, who took one out. With a smile Emily stood up and walked back inside. All three men watched her, curiously.

"I'm gonna take a shower you nosey dorks," she laughed as she left the room. "Before all the hot water is gone. I refuse to shower by wand in my own home. Quit looking at my ass, Adam, you had your chance."

Adam smiled and moved in to take her seat.

"Listen, you two 'are' ready, do you doubt that?"

Both young men shook their heads.

"Do we need to go over the plan again?" Adam asked, looking directly at Matt.

"No," he responded, making stern eye-contact.

"Then go get robed up," Adam smiled while standing up. "I want everyone ready for one last briefing in twenty minutes. We have to be in position by sunrise."

Matt kicked off his blanket and struggled to get to his feet while his brother Derrick scampered off towards the other washroom.

Adam grabbed Emily's cup of coffee and walked back inside. He paced around the living room for a minute before finding his way into the bathroom. With a clank, he slammed the lid to the toilet seat closed and sat down on the commode. Inside the shower, Emily smiled.

"Baby?" Adam whispered, barely audible over the rush of the hot water.

"We're ready, Adam," she answered softly. "Your plan is awesome."

"With you shaking your ass as bait. How in the hell did I let you talk me into this?"

"This early in the morning, I doubt he'll be looking at my ass."

"You're completely vulnerable. Please, let me come with you."

Emily laughed and shut off the water. She reached through the curtain and grabbed her red towel. After a few moments of drying off, she stepped out of the shower, her hand behind her, clutching the damp towel wrapped around her torso.

"I've been sitting in this guy's lap for almost a year. If he ever suspected, he would have done something long ago." Emily knelt down in front of the toilet. Adam looked heartbroken and worried. "Baby, it will be okay. I promise."

"If he even flinches, or acts like he suspects—"

"Then I'll Transfigure his ass into something extremely painful, baby. Don't you worry. We need him to get to Alvitre. As long as he wants the booty, we have a chance. I'm not stupid; I know what's going on."

"I know," Adam sighed in defeat.

"Get showered baby. Let's hit this one more time with the twins and then get our butts on vacation. I need some time off." Emily smiled and touched his cheek, rubbing his stubble with her thumb. "I'll control my part; you get Alvirte, and let's be done with this."

Adam stood and began taking off his night clothes. Emily didn't speak another word while he showered. When he walked out into the bedroom, she was still fussing with her hair in the foggy mirror. Adam dressed as Emily finally came out of the bathroom. Her hair tied in a long plat behind her back and now jet black.

"Black makes me look like a cancer patient," she sighed, obviously uncomfortable. Adam knew better than to comment. Both Aurors dressed in moderate silence, exchanging only casual comments.

When Adam and Emily made their way out to the living room, they saw Matt and Derrick standing outside in full battle dress. Charcoal robes representing the Department of Magic, with yellow trim identifying them as junior Aurors. They stood around a circular glass table with several large parchments unrolled. Adam pulled on his traveling cloak to cover his charcoal robes with red trim. Walking up to the table, Emily, dressed in jet black civilian robes, pulled her hood up over her head. Both twins turned to look at her.

"One last time," she said, "I'm headed into the city to meet up with Rodderick Toya. That dirty old wizard is taking me to an unknown Apparition point to meet Alvitre. Intelligence shows us Alvitre jumps between two routine points. Adam will be at one, in Lafayette, the one we think he will be at. Derrick and Matty, as discussed, you will be in South Bend at the other."

All three men nodded at her instructions.

"Contingencies: if nothing has happened by thirty minutes past sunrise, report your lack of activity by patronus to Adam. Adam, if you have nothing, I suggest you jump to the twins and make sure they're fine. These parchments are copies of the arrest directive. Ensure you present them or the arrest is not valid. Do you understand?"

"Cherry?" Matt asked. "What are our rules of engagement, being trainees."

"You both took your oath to join the Academy," Adam answered for her. "Everything applies, but remember, if by chance you do make the arrest, there is a good chance your actions will come under great scrutiny by Alvitre's Defense Attorney. So make sure your shit is flawless and by the book."

"Understood," said Derrick.

"Cherry, it's time, boss," Matt said, pointing to his watch.

"Right, walk with me, Matty."

Emily walked into the living room with her trainee as they both halted and stood by the fire. She looked up at him with a cold, serious face. "You're ready, do you understand me. Don't hold back, and if anything goes nuts, I want you to tear those wizards to bits, okay? This's not the time to get lost in your head. Concentrate on precision and accuracy, and remember—"

"Smooth is fast, yeah I got it." He smiled at her.

Emily peered over Matt's shoulder to see Adam and Derrick having a similar private conversation.

"Okay, one last thing." She whispered, just for her student. "This pervert Toya, he's been all over my stuff lately, so I need you to be close. I haven't told Adam because he'd flip if he knew how dirty and handsy this guy really is. If Toya finds out I'm D-O-M, he's probably gonna start killing things. So be ready, okay, Matty? If you even sense Avada Kedavra, lock that wand up. It's the only chance."

Matt nodded as Emily grabbed a handful of Floo powder and stepped into the grate.

"See ya!" She smiled throwing the power at her feet. The green flames of the Floo Network engulfed the living room causing Matt to have to shield his eyes. After a few moments of blinking his eyes into focus, Adam and Derrick walked up. 

Emily stepped out of the grate in Toya's home and felt something hard connect with her jaw. Knocked to the ground by an unseen sucker punch, she tried desperately to focus her spinning mind. Blood dripped from her mouth in gushes, and with her tongue she could feel several cracked teeth. It took only a fraction of a second for her fingers to reach up her sleeve and find her wand.

She turned and saw Toya standing over her, his right fist still balled up.

"Emily Darr, ha, if that's even your real name," Toya snarled at her, while pulling out his wand. "You've got some explaining to do." He stood over her, wearing long cream robes. His hair was dirty blonde and cut very, very short. He was perhaps forty and had a reputation for being paranoid and having terrible hygiene. This was the one time Emily didn't smell him before she saw him.

Emily spit out a mouthful of blood but did not answer. She regained her balance but opted to remain on her hands and knees just a while longer.

"I had you followed you dumb bitch," Toya continued. "You were seen with a boy, so I had him followed. Turns out he's an Auror; what the hell are you talking to Auror's for you little slut?"

"He's a junior Auror actually," she corrected, wiping more blood from her lips and flexing her jaw.

"Yeah well, while I was following him, I got a report that you met with another boy, the first boy's twin. And, wait for it, he's a damn Auror, too."

"Barely, they're both still in training." Emily tried to keep her cool, hoping Toya would buy her story, but it was a thin story at best.

"So what is a little slut like you doing with two Aurors? Huh?" He screamed, and delivered a powerful kick to her midsection. Emily toppled onto her back as her wand slipped out of her grasp. She let out a few weak coughs before looking up and smiling at him with bloodied teeth.

"Are you finished?" she asked, both sarcastically and rhetorically. "What do you think I was doing with two nineteen-year-old brother Aurors. Twins. Soon to be law enforcement. What do you think a woman could possibly want from two young men? Are you really that dense?"

Toya looked at her confused.

"They're nineteen, what do you think I was doing? I was just about to have them doing my bidding. Both of 'em. Nineteen-year-olds know nothing about sex, so I screw them stupid and they tell me whatever I want to hear. They have no secrets with me; I know more about the DOM than any of your people. What's even better is neither suspects I am also doing the other brother. It's perfect." Emily reached and secured her wand. "If that's what you are kicking my ass over, my own private intelligence gathering techniques, then I'm about to seriously throw you are beating."

"You're screwing them?" Toya asked, shocked.

"Uh, yeah," she laughed sarcastically. "What's the point of being a chick if I can't use it to my advantage? I got those boys eating out of my hands. They will do anything as long as I promise to let them screw me again. Dude, you can't be that stupid. This business is my livelihood; I will exploit any advantage I can find. So, go to hell you asshole. I don't answer to you."

"No, you don't," Toya snarled as Emily found her feet and stood up. "I will let the boss decide your fate. You have much to answer for."

Toya moved faster than she expected, there was a flash of light, a bang, and then darkness. 

Manning their post, Matt Emberson and his brother Derrick stood in absolute silence hidden beneath disillusionment charms. It was nearly sunrise, and just two blocks away from the famed University of Notre Dame they waited in the crisp morning air, keeping four eyes on a predetermined point of road. At any moment, wizards or witches might Apparate in for a secret meeting.

This was the biggest problem with intelligence reports, and the bane of any decent investigator. Whether or not anyone showed up was purely up to chance, and the only way to be sure was to wait. A sound investigator would run down as many leads as possible, even if they proved fruitless.

Deep inside Matt's gut, there was a mix of ninety-five percent nerves and five percent fear. Or perhaps it was ninety-five percent fear and five percent nerves. The confusion, made the situation that much more intense for the young Auror. A feeling he was sure his brother mirrored. The rookie in him made him certain they would see action this morning, even though Adam was in Lafayette waiting for the same possible scenario.

A pop, off in the distance snapped Matt out of his own mind sending his senses into a state of hypersensitivity. He heard his brother react to the sound of someone Apparating, which confirmed he was not imagining things. Another pop, this time from his left, but still his eyes saw nothing except shadows.

A man walked out from an alley in between two ancient looking shops. With hands in the pockets of his long jacket or robe, he moved towards the point Derrick and Matt monitored. Matt fingered his wand, losing control of his anxiety as a second man appeared on the street.

This second man was far more conspicuous, walking and turning, almost like he was providing some sort of cover or protection for the first man. From Matt's left side, Derrick broke the silence with a whisper.

"Drop that dog first," he asserted, ordering the concentration of both their wands on this security person. "He's surely the heavy hitter."

"Yep," Matt said with barely the sound of an exhale. "Take right, I got left."

"Stay close," his brother said softly. "My signal."

As Matt crossed and then moved away from his brother, he allowed himself one brief moment to contemplate what was about to happen. It was he, and his brother, alone. No cousin Adam to save them, and no Cherry to protect them. All of their training no longer mattered. Regardless of their status, they were Aurors now.

The two wizards' paths met. The first man's hands never left his the pockets of his coat, while the other man still fidgeted looking protective and nervous. Matt held position against a brick wall behind a dumpster and ventured an educated guess that his brother crouched invisible behind a parked mini-van across the street.

Matt and Derrick had been in many duels, both in training and in support of Adam and Emily during classified operations. What happened next was pure instinct and rage. Matt's brain was nearly removed from the equation as he fed off training alone.

Pre-dawn South Bend, Indiana, heard two almost simultaneous pops. First a tall man Matt knew to be Rodderick Toya appeared just ten feet away from the two unknown men. Adam, having either mistimed his jump, or misunderstood the location Apparated directly between the three men. Before Adam or the twins could react, Matt watched as his cousin took three bright red stunners to the chest. His body flew down the street and that was the moment Matt noticed that Toya did not arrive alone. His heart sunk as he noticed an unconscious figure at Toya's feet. It was Emily.

Whether the insanely fast reflexes of the criminal wizards attacking Adam, or the sight of his cousin flying through the air, one of those scenarios delayed Matt's reaction. But only for a second. Matt raised his wand and let loose the most powerful stunner he had ever imagined. Though no diagnosed connection between his brother and him had ever been identified, Matt and Derrick were always on the same page. Under the weight of two silent orders of Stupefy, the fidgety mercenary wizard crumpled.

_Two on two!_ Matt broke cover and reached for Toya, the closest wizard to him, as his twin locked wands with the other. That was the last time Matt thought about Derrick for a good stretch of time because whatever spells Toya cast at him, they slammed so hard into Matt's Protego charm the young Auror realized he might have bitten off a bit much.

The darkness was ripped with flashes of red and purple as two duels began, with the two most powerful wizards Matt had ever known lying unconscious on the asphalt. Matt managed two offensive spells before retreating into a completely defensive posture, desperately trying to block the deadly accurate and powerful bolts of colored light zooming right at his head. His feet slid backwards in the ice and snow as his Protego took a beating.

Toya advanced on him, and Matt came to the understanding that he was about to lose, and lose badly. He hoped Derrick fared better, but what little information his peripheral vision could pick up told him his brother was in just as much trouble.

Toya moved behind Emily's body, as if daring Matt to cast over his mentor, but the Auror didn't hesitate. Matt's spells were blocked with ease, but it was a small victory for the boy to be on the offensive again. Toya stepped over Emily's body, which was his only mistake.

He froze, paralyzed, a look of pure discomfort on his face. Toya looked down at himself, seeing a hand grasped firmly in his groin between his legs. He doubled over in pain as a bloodied and swollen Emily pulled herself up by his manhood. Toya didn't make a sound.

Emily acted quickly, considering her foot appeared broken, but there was no mistaking that Matt did hesitate. Using her hand clasped in Toya's groin, and grasping a handful of robes with the other, Emily pulled herself to her feet. Toya had no defense and was surely in too much pain to cast any spell.

Matt's mentor stood erect, on one foot. She grabbed Toya by the shoulders and delivered not one but three crushing knees into the man's chest. Emily's bad leg or not, Matt knew he heard in Toya's deep grunts that many bones were shattered.

Now doubled over facing her, Emily draped her right arm over the back of Toya's neck. He still held his wand as she wrapped around his head in a reverse headlock. Kicking both legs up and dropping her entire weight on his neck, Toya's forehead slammed into the asphalt with such force, Matt actually flinched. The force at which Emily's back hit the ground was not a pleasant sight.

Neither she, nor Toya moved again for several minutes.

The sight of Emily exhausted, bloodied and swollen did the trick. Matt honed his senses in and turned to his brother. Derrick, being thrown from the clutches of an unknown spell, slid across the ice on his back. Matt moved to the place where his brother stopped moving and reached out a hand to help his twin.

"Of course, I get Alvitre." Derrick said sarcastically looking frazzled, yet determined.

"It's just us," Matt said with a grim finality as they both turned on their heels, facing their opponent. Alvitre, with wand raised, looked at them both with pure hatred in his eyes.

"Well," Derrick laughed, reaching out his wand to tap his brother's in a sort of magical high five. "Let's make this count."

Matt nodded, followed his brother's lead, and turned, wand first, at Alvitre. With a snap and a flick the twins unleashed the apocalypse. 

Adam came to in a tidal wave of his own senses. He gasped, bulged his eyes and instinctively tried to sit up. Eight separate hands restrained him. He felt cold and wet and was surely lying in water. Panic struck him as he desperately tried to figure out how he got in this situation.

The wizards over him identified themselves and DoM employees and healers. They explained where they were and how difficult it had been to revive him.

"Emily?" he begged and was told she was fine and being tended to. Adam rolled onto his side and squinted to see down the street. He saw another mass of people, huddled around someone sitting up but obviously slumped over. The coughing woman was wearing Emily's clothes, and although banged up, she looked conscious. Her cries of pain actually brought him relief.

"Baby," he grunted.

"I'm here!" Emily choked, yelling into the night.

Further down the road he spotted the twins, standing erect and talking to four men Adam knew to be high ranking Aurors. Just to their right, resting on their knees were three wizards, all with their arms and hands bound behind their back. The wizard in the middle Adam knew to be their charge, Jon Alvitre.

Adam rolled onto his back with a sigh. Thank God!


	3. And Three

And Three

Sara Bumble moved quickly out of the Adams Transfiguration building into the frigid New England winter. Named after the second President of the United States, a Massachusetts native, and longtime friend of the American magical community the building was one of the oldest on the campus of Salem's.

Six ancient, hand crafted stone steps lowered Sara gently into more than twelve inches of packed snow. The artic wind hit her face and caused a few words to slip her blue lips that both professors and parents would scorn, and as she struggled to secure her satchel of books she began to realize that the walk back to the girl's dormitory would surely the low point of her day.

Sara was one of three, siblings that is. Unlike her friends who had either older or younger brothers and sisters Sara and her fellow Bumble's were merely minutes a part in age. Sara was the youngest of Alison and Raymond, by a whole three minutes, which was just enough time to be both an eternity and a blink of the eye.

She was fourteen, nearly half way through her third year at Salem's School of Magic, Sara was well on her way through her studies to become a witch. Sara loved school, and no matter how dreary or painful the weather, like today, she loved every second about being there, and every second she could possibly devote to magic.

As with all multiple births, the Bumble children were both identical and fraternal at the same time. They were insanely similar in humor, ability to get along with other students, professors and adults, and insanely different when it came to personality and ability. Sara was the student, she loved school. Smart, gifted, driven and bright, magic was a puzzle she could spend hours trying to crack. By the time she left Salem's she promised herself there would be no book untouched, and no theory unexplored.

Being a bookworm, even with her ample share of good friends it didn't hurt to have not one but two siblings running around in similar social circles. Sara was well liked enough that no one really gave her much grief for loving school. It was that or the fact that no corridor was safe enough to ensure that Ali, Ray-Ray or one of their many friends wasn't lurking in the shadows to defend her should someone feel the need to be a bully.

Alison was the athlete of the three. Solid school marks were fine but Ali was a bit of a savant on the quidditch pitch. She made the dorm team her first year and never looked back. Ali was strong, fast and both stubborn and fearless at the same time. On the ground, in her mind the only person allowed to give one of her siblings a hard time was her, but in the air if you challenged her on a broom before your eyes snapped shut from the foot to the nose she gave you the last thing you probably saw was her sandy blonde locks flying off into the distance to score. Alison was a fantastic chaser, and an even better sister.

As the only boy of the three, Ray didn't much care for school. The girls often bailed him out so he could scrape the minimal passing grade. Ray-Ray was by far the most popular, more lately by all of Sara and Ali's friends; he too played quidditch, as the seeker. Although he joined the team their second year, he rode the bench, but in his third year he'd been playing more because the dorm teams primary seeker just couldn't stay out of the sick tents. Ray loved quidditch, talking to girls, and being with his friends. His track record for detentions was never going to reach the level of all time record, but the amount of time he spent doing lines or cleaning out the owlry was certainly worthy of recognition.

Sara loved school, Alison quidditch, and Ray-Ray was good at just about any sport. Not amazing at any one, like Ali, but would clearly wish to spend his days playing a game with his friends. There was little competition between the three, and they were each fiercely protective of one another. As the school years went on, each of them learned quickly to ask the right questions of new friends. Guys wanting to hang out with Ray were very quickly identified and disbanded if they only wanted his friendship to be closer to one of his sisters. Since girls develop and mature faster than boys, Ali and Sara learned this fact about their own friend's years ago.

Sara continued to fight the wind and shuffle through the slush and snow across campus. She wondered how warm her grandmother's house would be on a day like today. Her mother had told her the family was getting together today in Tennessee, her home, to welcome some of her cousins back into town. She smiled thinking of her family, and her heart ached just a bit because she missed her father.

Her dad, Big Ray, was obviously a big guy, but Sara wasn't a little girl anymore and she didn't care. The moment she got home she planned on wrapping her parents in a big hug, and since she was too big to sit on her father's lap, she planned on finding a nice quiet place where she could sit beside him and tell him everything about everything. Daddy's little girl missed her father very much.

Sara turned the final corner of her journey towards the Garner-Affleck Dormitory and at last the wind was now behind her. Nature's brisk push gave her a little more zest in her step and thoughts of a warm fire were just a few minutes from being reality.

Sara's long brown hair wisped across her face and she struggled to see her path forward. She was wearing shoes just sensible enough to not fear a complete wipe out but just stylish enough that she still needed to mind her step. At last the giant oak door of the G-A-D was approaching.

Sara's mind was so engrossed in Transfiguration she never noticed the screams, however when the oak front door to her dormitory burst open and students flooded the quad in terror she understood immediately that something was very wrong.

Students from her dorm ran in every direction as curses and jinxes flew out from inside. Many of the children ducked their heads trying to avoid the explosions and pops. A group of boys, all wearing their blue dorm robes erupted out of the front entry way seemingly moving as a single entity. Sara stood frozen in pure terror as more curses flew near the group of boys she recognized as some from her year and many upper-classman. The boys darted at an angle away from Sara and then quickly adjusted course headed right towards her. Just as Sara was about to turn and run from them two things happened almost at once. A red jet of light came from a masked man cloaked in maroon now standing at the doorway of her dorm. The curse hit a boy in the mob square in the back and he fell to the snow. The other thing she noticed was the group of boys was protecting someone inside its center. As the group reached Sara their perimeter opened and her brother Ray reached out and pulled her inside.

The group of boys barked orders to one another as Sara was forced through the snow faster than her feet could carry her. Several times she stumbled only to find that several hands making fists of her robes would not let her fall. Sara found her brothers face, he was bruised and looked stunned. Blood poured out of his nose.

"What the hell!" Sara screamed finally.

The sound of another curse hitting the group echoed and a boy Sara knew named Jim Hile screamed and collapsed in the snow.

"God damn, who'd you Bumble's piss off?" someone screamed as more and more curses slammed into the group's protection spells. As they shuffled through snow more and more boys were hit or fell down. As the bodyguards pushed Ray and Sara up an ice and snow covered hill Sara realized there were only three or four boys left; all upper-classmen."

"Here!" a seventh year named Peter Longo yelled through panting breaths. "We've got the high ground, make our stand here!" At once the boys protecting her and her brother let go of their robes and fanned out into a single file line facing downhill. Sara and Ray both fell to their knees not expecting to be let go. Now that everyone wasn't huddled in a group Sara could see clearly who'd been helping; two seventh years, Robin Owens and Peter Longo, with two sixth years, Jessie Longo and Julian Macy. Sara knew all four were senior members of the Salem Dueling Club and the Longo brothers also were on the Dorm Quidditch team with Ray. Sara and Ray both got to their feet with wands drawn as the upper-classmen waited in front of them for the now six maroon cloaked attackers to get into range.

The attackers took their time advancing with wands drawn, moving slowly and cautiously through the snow.

"Does anyone have any idea what the hell is—"

CRACK! A purple jet of light slammed into one of the boys' shield charms which caused several of them, including Sara and Ray to flinch and duck.

"Shit!" Ray yelled trying to shield Sara.

CRACK! CRACK! POP! More spells hit the boys shield charms.

And it began.

The Longo brothers along with Robin and Julian returned fire immediately. Curses and jinxes flew both uphill and downhill bouncing and ricocheting off of shields and making small explosions in the snow. The sound was much louder than Sara expected. At first it looked to Sara like the groups were evenly matched but quickly she realized it was six on four and the hooded men were advancing. The wind was blowing directly uphill into Sara's face making the attackers sound closer than they really were. They needed to even the odds but Sara knew that she and her brother were no match for an adult wizard by themselves. Suddenly an idea popped into her head and stepping forward towards the backs of the boys from her dorm Sara barked just below a yell.

"Fat one on our left! Fat one on our left!" She yelled turning her head left and then right as Ray moved up next to her. "On three everyone hit the fat one on the left." Without pausing between sentences, "One-Two-THREE!"

Each boy and Sara all screamed a different curse and jets of many colors flew at the fat attacker. He had no chance against that many bolts and crumpled. Sara noticed that no one was taking charge, but the boys from the Dueling Club responded to military commands. Remembering watching old war movies with her father she knew she needed to take charge.

Sara didn't hesitate, "Ray-Ray! Block for me! Longo's." Commanding the two boys on the right of the line, "One step to the right, GO!" This created a small opening in the line of defense that Sara could now cast through with Ray crouched in front of here casting shield charms.

If you told a Muggle about the magical world and then asked them to theorize what the girls were good at and what the boys were good at, most would think girls being reasonably cautious were good at protection charms and boys being more aggressive were naturally better at spells. That theory would be quite incorrect. Magical young men have a really bad habit of using magic on one another in both playful and comedic ways. Hurling items at each other's genitals or moreover magic in general at each other's genitals was pure comedy that never got old. Naturally boys became excellent shielders and blockers because it was necessary for survival, easy to learn and received constant testing. Girls trusting the safety of the classroom and never daring to curse a fellow girl often learned to spread their wings for spell learning and rarely had a reason to block anything.

Sara knew her brother had been on the receiving end of more crotch curses than there were snowflakes in New England. That and his participation in the Dueling Club for three years meant he'd make an excellent shield. As soon as he took a knee and Sara saw his Protego Charm active she began to cast her spells.

Sara threw everything she could think of at the attackers, and her heart leapt in excitement at the sight of one of the maroon hooded attackers falling to one of the boys spells. Her brother Ray used his speed and natural agility to block everything that go close to her, but quickly it became obvious to both Sara and Ray that the majority of the spells were coming towards them; they were these men's target.

What excitement Sara felt watching the first attacker fall was quickly erased as Robin Owen fell to the snow. His unconscious body began sliding down the slick hill and came to rest almost half way between the two groups. Then suddenly Julian Macy stumbled backwards towards her, having been hit with a spell affecting his vision. As he turned his back Julian never saw the red stunning spell that hit him square in the back. He fell face down in the snow right at Sara's feet and like his friend Robin he began sliding in the snow too only Julian was beyond the apex of the hill when he fell. He was sliding towards the sixty foot cliff behind Ray and Sara.

Her brother dropped his guard and reaching for Julian trying to arrest his slide. Sara barely got her own shield charm up in time but it was such a weak cast that the spell she blocked knocked her own shield charm back into her sending her flying onto her back sliding towards the cliff.

Sara felt herself sliding but couldn't get any grip on the icy hilltop to stop her fall. Ray leapt into her path and grabbed a foot pulling her to a stop. He reached out a hand which Sara grabbed quickly and they pulled each other to their feet without saying a word. Sara looked over her brothers shoulder towards the upper-classmen who'd been their guard. All that remained were the Longo brothers, and they appeared to be having a tough time of the three cloaked attackers that still advanced. Somehow during the last melee another attacker was taken out of the fight, but Sara hadn't seen him fall.

The two Bumble's returned to the line and simultaneously fired at the same target. He wasn't hit but did fall down in the snow trying to avoid their curses. After his one shot Ray dropped down to one knee and threw up a shield charm as Sara's wand found its teeth again.

In the distance they could hear the sounds of other fights taking place, but none of those fights were close enough for Sara to see them through the wind and snow. Still more and more spells crashed against their shields while Sara and the two Longo boys cast curse after jinx after charm. The wind howled over the top of the hill surely biting into each of their exposed skin but Sara felt no cold.

Down the hill, near the path where Sara had been walking earlier four more maroon cloaked attackers ran towards their position trying to join the fight, but they were not along. Chasing after them, Sara was elated to see several teachers of Salem's getting into the fight.

She recognized the sturdy frame of Professor Hornbuckle, an older which, but a former Auror. Running along her side was the head of Susan B. Anthony dormitory, Potion Master and head of the Salem's Dueling Club, Darius McClatchey. Sara knew they needed to hold on just a bit longer as these two professors were no strangers to combat. As Ray kept blocking, Sara kept casting, but as the seconds passed by the professors were not getting any closer. Much like their attack against the students these cloaked assailants were not easily pushed back. Sara could see both professors pushing forward as hard as they could with curses and jinxes but they were getting no closer. The men allowed them to advance only to push them to the left or right of a line that would lead to the top of the hill. No matter how many steps the professors took they were still just as far away.

Two of the unconscious attackers were revived making a total of seven attacking and alternating between the two groups. The seven men stood in a small cluster half way up the hill no more than an arm's length a part from one another.

Something moved in Sara's peripheral vision up in the sky, she turned just as a group of at least ten broomstick riders cleared the roof of the seven story Kennedy Building flying right towards Sara's position. Dressed in their familiar electric blue robes of the G-A-D, Sara's sister Ali led the charge and screamed over the crowd of attackers at maximum speed. Sara's heart bounded at the sight of her sister as spells rained down onto the attackers from Ali's team. Ray, and both the Longo brothers screamed as the team flew over looking a bit jealous to not be flying with their fellow Raven's.

The spells from the sky only caught one attacker off guard, but that was now one less wand for Sara and her siblings to worry about. Ali and her team circled around for another pass, and just as Sara realized it might be a bad idea to sweep again she and Ray watched the lead flier, their brave sister, get hit with a blue jinx that sent her slumping forward on her broomstick and spiraling out of control.

"Ali!" Ray and Sara screamed as she sailed over their heads and crashed into a large pine tree.

The Longo brothers, Ray and Sara all watched Ali crash into a snow covered pine that from their distance seemed to be a mile tall. Distracted by the fliers, Peter Longo took a curse to the back of the head and fell face first into the snow. Realizing his brother was down; Jessie Longo dove to the ground to protect him. Understanding he too was about to be cursed, he looked up to Sara and Ray with a panicked look.

"Run!" he screamed, and Sara felt her arm nearly yanked out of its socket by Ray who obviously did not hesitate.

They bolted towards the cliff hiding behind the temporary cover brought on by the crest of the hill. Sara's feet were moving so fast she felt like she might fall at any moment.

"Ray-Ray!" she panicked.

"Transfigure something that won't kill us!" Ray screamed as he leapt over the first boulder that officially started the cliff down to the bottom.

Acting on the first thought that passed through her mind Sara transfigured that boulder into a wooden toboggan and as she and her brother landed their rear ends onto the hard wood Sara thought she might not have made the best decision.

They picked up speed heading towards the cliff as pockets of snow exploded around them from curses fired from the attackers. The cliff wasn't completely vertical; in fact, there was a very clear straight path down on a sled. What to do with the mile high trees when they reached the bottom at warp speed was a problem Sara knew she needed to solve quickly.

Before she knew it they were half way down, and the only thing down the cliff that looked like it might not kill them was the branches on all the pine trees that were weighed down with snow. Acting quickly Sara transfigured the snow near the bottom of the cliff into a ramp that launched the toboggan fifteen feet into the air. Not being strapped in Ray and Sara found themselves flying towards an overgrown spruce tree and after toppling end over end through the needles and snow and then landing on her brother Sara was sure she hit every possible branch on the way down.

Sara felt the same arm being pulled from its socket once again as Ray dragged her out of the snow. She ran as fast as she could, trying to keep up with him as he altered their path repeatedly to put as many trees between them and their attackers as possible.

Just as a major stitch began to form in Sara's side Ray stopped, and they both doubled over gasping for air. They'd been running flat out for over in a minute in foot deep snow.

"If you die, can I have your stuff?" Ray-Ray said with a sound of an obvious smirk. Sara, still staring at her feet, clutching her side was confused by his question. Asking for one's stuff upon their death was what Ray and Ali said to each other before a big match. Sara stood up and looked at her brother, who was looking off in the distance.

"You can have my makeup, you girl." Laughed Ali, still holding her pulverized broomstick. "You spend more time on your hair than Sara and I put together."

Reunited at last the triplets laughed themselves into a group hug. They had great confidence when they were all together. Ali broke the hug first asking if either of them had any idea what was going on. Sara and Ray shrugged.

"Someone came into the dorm asking for Ali as I walked into the lobby," said Ray, brushing snow off of the back of Sara's robes. "As soon as they saw me, they started shooting. Everyone bolted, lucky for me I was with a bunch of sixes and sevens. They protected me, and then we found Sara."

"Let's get away from campus then," Ali offered and quickly turned away from Salem's walking further into the forest. "Someone came onto the pitch where a bunch of us were playing four on four. They said you guys were being attacked and we sort of took off from there without thinking."

After a few minutes walking, Sara stopped the group. "Ali? How's your magic? Are you full? Ray and I have been casting nonstop since this started." Sara was still out of breath from their run, but she was becoming more and more calm with each passing minute.

"Yeah, I guess. I did my hair this morning, that's about it."

"I've got an idea, let's stop here for a second. We need to call for help, and I know a powerful spell, but I'm not strong enough to pull it off. Ali you might be able to if I can explain it to you right." Sara was thinking she had a really good idea, she was easily the smartest when it came to magic. Ray was the fastest hands down, and Ali without a doubt was the strongest. Ali didn't share Sara's deep love for magic and never really pushed herself with magic, nor did she ever practice anything outside of assigned homework. However, when Ali did get a spell right, the results were often quite impressive.

While the triplets hunkered down behind a large tree, Sara tried her best to explain everything Professor Hornbuckle had told her about the Patronus Charm. She explained how it fed on powerful memories and that a fully corporal patronus would manifest itself in the form of an animal that closely related to the casters soul.

After Sara's explanation, Ali insisted she was ready to try.

"Remember the day Adam and Cherry showed up and gave us our letters." Sara added. Aside from the howling wind, the forest was still relatively quiet, though it had only been a few minutes. There were no sounds of pursuers.

"Way ahead of ya,"Ali smiled, brandishing her wand.

The first two of three attempts, Ali's wand only produced a white light. In pure determination, Ali bucked down her concentration which turned her cast into an odd looking mist. After ten tenth try Ali announced she thought she had it figured it, she closed her eyes, smiled, took and deep breath and commanded the incantation.

Holding her wand aloft, Ali opened her eyes to see a bright white cheetah staring back at her. Sara and Ray each took a step back and their mouths hung open in shock.

Sara acting quickly, spoke in a soft voice to not distract her sister. "You've got to maintain concentration, but I need you think of Grandma's house. Adam and Em' will be there, you need to command your Patronus to go there and tell them what's going on."

Almost immediately the cheetah reverted to ball of light and sailed off through the forest. Just as Ali started to loosen her concentration and lower her wand Sara spoke up.

"Keep your focus, you have to keep concentrating."

Ray moved to another tree peering off through the forest back towards the school. After a few minutes Ali let Sara know she thought her spell might be at their grandmother's home.

"When I close my eyes, I see her living room. I see Mom and Dad, Adam, Emily, Matt, Derrick, jeez everyone standing around in a circle."

"Amazing" Sara whispered, obviously quite jealous.

"I think I hear people coming," announced Ray in a loud whisper.

"Ali, tell them we need help, command your Patronus to speak for you."

Ali's face squinted, "I can see everyone, but it's resisting."

"Sara, they're coming!" Ray whispered louder.

"Just another second," Sara snickered back at him. "Ali, make it take for you, we need help, tell them we need help."

_EXPULSO! _A voice screamed from nearby. Sara saw a jet of blue light fly from the trees into the snow right at their feet.

The explosion was painful and Sara knew she was flying through the air. She could hear Ali's scream training off moving away from her. She landed on her stomach in the snow and quickly rolled over. Looking up she saw two maroon hooded men advancing on her quickly. She tried to move by was paralyzed by fear, her legs felt heavy and dead. Finally, after verbally screaming at herself to get up her legs responded. As she got to her feet she could hear the sounds of curses and spells hitting trees and snow, she knew her brother in sister were in big trouble but had no choice by to run away as fast as she could.

She darted past one tree, and then another. She could see a possibly clearing ahead but was also afraid she was getting close to Patriot's Leap, a one-hundred fifty foot cliff with a very shallow pond at its base. Sara passed another set of trees and realized she was right, she'd run to the one place there was no getting out of.

Two hooded me appeared out of the woods, one brandishing a wand, and the other a silver knife in addition to his wand. The first curse one of the fired nearly pushed her off the cliff it slammed in to her shield so hard. The second curse, cast a fraction of a second after the first made its way into her thigh with little resistance. Her leg burned as she fell; burning on the inside. As her knees hit the ground the man with the knife stood over her.

Sara closed her eyes and listened. She heard spells exploding in the distance, someone running through the snow, and the thud of someone being forced to the ground. She opened her eyes and saw Ray-Ray and the man with the knife wrestling on their sides in the snow fighting over control of the knife.

Ray, although brave, was no match for the grown man. He threw her brother into a tree trunk and Ray did not move.

The man stood over her again and all the sudden Sara felt drained. She flopped over on her back staring up at the man's knife. She couldn't take her eyes off it.

"Apparently, little honey, you have powerful blood. Let's see how powerful it is when I mix it with the snow." The man stepped over her and started to bed down towards her when they both heard a loud _POP! _come from behind him.

A woman with bright red hair appeared of nowhere. It was Cheery, Adam's longtime girlfriend. Evidentially Ali's patronus worked.

With fire in her eyes, Cherry stepped forward, drew her wand and commanded "_REDUCTO!" _

The spell struck the masked man square in the chest with such force it launched him into the air and off the cliff for a very long fall down. Sara turned and watched him fly, felt someone grab her robes, and then felt as if a giant fishhook pulled from her middle yanking her through the eye of a needle.

Sara's eyes were sealed shut but suddenly she felt warm, dry air. She opened her eyes and was shocked to find herself in her grandmother's living room, with Cherry at her side.


	4. And One

And One

The living room of Grandma's house was serine and still. For several minutes after Adam and Emily's arrival the mood changed with each second that passed. First shock, then devastation on through every possible emotional hurt that could be acted upon or verbalized. Now, as everyone gathered around Emily's body there was total silence save the quiet sobs.

Emily Darr lay on her back on the dark hardwood floor in the living room. Sara had pulled the hood of Emily's robes over her face as Emily's eyes were still open. Adam sat at her head, resting it in his lap while he gently stroked her hair through the hood. Matt, who'd just lost his mentor, kneeled forward at her feet sobbing and covering the sides of his face with his hands. His Muggle brother and sister Andy and Kelly knelt with him, rubbing his back and comforting him as best they could.

Derrick stood behind his twin, unable to speak, struggling to breathe. Emily meant just as much to him as she did to his brother. She'd taught him more about magic and fighting than he could remember at this moment, and he struggled to understand how his family could possibly move forward from this point. Time seemed to stand still in his mind as if he still couldn't believe what was happening around him.

With tears streaking his pink cheeks, Ray-Ray knelt beside Emily and held her hand. Everyone in the room could tell that Ray had no inkling how to process such strong emotional loss. He sobbed and sniffled staring down at Emily's lifeless body. Alison knelt next to her brother but was bent over at the waist crying into Emily's chest. Ray rubbed his sister's back, trying his best to ease her sadness.

Sara was on Emily's other side, and being the closest triplet to the Auror laid down on the floor next to her. Sara's loss was by far the most vocal as she cried and cried into her dear friends shoulder. Adam held her head as best as he could. Tears fell from his face directly onto his lost love.

She'd died protecting his family; she'd died without him being able to protect her. Adam knew beyond anything, beyond the revenge he was sure to deliver, beyond the pain of his broken heart; he knew he'd never forgive himself for letting her fall.

Relative's tried to ask what had happened, but no one had the complete story yet. Sara couldn't form words, but Ray-Ray explained most of what he remembered outside their dorm. Alison too couldn't form complete sentences without breaking down so Ray filled in her part too.

Matt and Derrick added what they could get out of their mouths, but there were still many holes in the events of the afternoon at Salem's. It was agreed the attack had been premeditated, and very well planned. What no one could understand was why someone wanted to hurt children. Multiple births were rare, and triplets were just as uncommon. Aside from being overall good children, with their own talents, none of the Bumble kids was extraordinary by any stretch of the imagination.

"Derrick," Adam choked just above a whisper, looking up at his student. He cleared the sadness from his throat a few times trying to find more words. "We need to contact the Department of Magic. They'll need our statements, and they'll need to get Em—"

"Right," Derrick answered, cutting Adam off to spare him from having to say it. "Gimmie a minute to get in touch." Derrick wiped off his face and moved out of the living room towards the front door of Grandma's house. Quickly he stepped out into the cold for what everyone assumed was a need to compose himself before contacting the authorities.

Ten minutes passed with everyone still huddled around Emily's body. The Muggle family members in the room were very sad. Most of them adored Emily, but they were also very sad for Adam and his crew, it was obvious that they were all very close and hurting a great deal.

Derrick came back inside and reported that he made contact with the D-O-M, and that someone would be arriving shortly. Sara and Alison got up without saying a word and moved over to one of the couches and sat down. Both girls grabbed throw pillows, pulled them in close and then doubled over crying again. Ray-Ray sat down between his sisters and put an arm around each.

Adam stayed with Emily but everyone else moved to chairs in the kitchen or couches in the living room. Matt and Derrick stood in the middle of the living room with arms crossed still locked inside the grief in their heads.

On one end of the living room was a small electric fireplace that used to keep Grandpa, when he was alive, toasty warm while everyone sweated profusely. It hadn't been used since he had died a few years earlier so everyone in the room was quite surprised to hear a loud clicking sound suddenly emanate from behind the fireplace's glass doors.

Matt and Derrick looked puzzled at the small fireplace, that only a child could fit into. Just as Matt stepped forward to investigate the brick chimney and fireplace began to transform growing taller and wider. After a second or two it had grown into a full sized hearth that any adult could walk right in to. The glass doors were gone as were all the electric components. Several wooden logs now sat in its center, and no one magical in the room was particularly surprised when the cold logs erupted in green flames.

The flames burst in bright green engulfing the entire hearth as someone appeared standing on the grate. Matt and Derrick's wands were drawn immediately and Sara and Ray stood up from the couch. A man appeared, looking just a few years older than the twins and stepped out into the living room.

Matt and Derrick's wands quickly honed in on the intruder. "Talk quick stranger," Derrick threatened, as another explosion of green flames consumed the fireplace and someone else arrived.

"Peace to you, sir!" The man surrendered, raising his arms. "I'm James Howard; I work for the Ministry of Magic in the United Kingdom, and this is my great-gran." He pointed to the elderly witch who had appeared in the grate just after his arrival. "Your Department of Magic has sent us here to brief you; I assure you we come in peace!" Mister Howard's posture appeared genuine but the twins and anyone else standing in the living room weren't sure what to make of him. He spoke in a thick English accent but composed himself with confidence and aristocracy.

"What do you want?" Matt rudely barked at the intruders, refusing to lower his wand.

The old witch standing in the grate looked to have had enough of standing in a fireplace; she picked up her walking stick and smacked her great-grandson in the back of the leg. He moved out of the way, allowing her to step out into the living room.

"Good gracious, you're manners boy." She exclaimed while stepping into the room and brushing the ash from the fireplace off of her robes. "So, sorry" the elderly witch said, addressing everyone at once. Her English accent was softer than that of her great-grandson, and her tone was warmer. "That boy, his head's filled with floo powder just like his fathers." She continued to brush ash from her robes while staring down her nose through her soot stained spectacles at her great-grandson. Looking disheveled and embarrassed, Mister Howard found a quiet seat in a large red leather chair in a corner of the room.

"Where were we," the witch asked, finally giving up on the ash on her robes. "Ah yes," she continued with a smile, "Mister Pearson, Mister's Emberson, Mister Bumble and of course, Ladies Bumble, it's a great pleasure to finally meet you." The witch offered a very sincere smile and nod to each witch and wizard as she spoke their name. "I've watched you six for a very long time, I'm quite excited to finally be here."

"Okay, enough!" Adam yelled. He scooted back from Emily's body, gently resting her head on the floor and stood up. "Who the hell are you, and what the shit are you doing in my grandmother's home." Adam's posture was quite aggressive as he stepped over Emily's body to confront the witch.

James Howard stood up quickly from the red leather chair and he too raised his voice. "How dare you speak to her with such disrespect?!" He barked, moving to confront Derrick, "Don't you know who—"

"Enough!" The witch halted both men with a smile and the gentle raise of a hand. "They're upset James, and we've just interrupted. Sit down, boy, please." James obeyed her command and sat back down in the same chair.

All of Derrick's relatives were now standing in the middle of the room in a sort of circle. They looked on guard, concerned, and more than anything else, confused. The witch surveyed each one of them, walking around the inside of the circle and stopping at each twin, and each triplet. She bowed to Sara and Alison, nodded to Derrick and Matt, and even took a moment to gently pat Ray's face. A pat slightly harder than Ray would have liked.

"Seriously, Lady, who are you?" Matt asked, sounding annoyed, his gaze at the witch was filled with spite and anger.

"I'm old, little Auror," she smiled at him, clearly not threatened. "But I'm not completely scatterbrained just yet. I work for the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. You may call me Headmistress, Minister or 'gran,' the choice is yours really. I've already apologized for our intrusion, so how about you wipe that "pissing-fire" look off your face before you find out why I make my great-grandson carry my handbag. Be a dear, won't you?"

The witch walked over to the red leather chair where her great-grandson sat looking up at her. In one switch movement, that everyone in the living would not have expected from a witch of her age, she reach out, grabbed a fistful of her great-grandson's robes and threw him from the chair to the hard wood floor. She added a thump from her walking stick to his backside for extra measure and took a seat where he once sat. The witch took a moment to straighten her robes, before looking up at the room and smiling at everyone. James Howard, embarrassed again, got to his feet and found another chair next to his great-gran without saying a word.

"Seriously," Matt asked again. "Who are you people?"

"Wait a second," Derrick interrupted. "I know you. Headmistress? Of Hogwart's. You spoke at Salem's our first year." Derrick turned to Matt who didn't appear to remember.

"I did indeed," she answered flashing the young man a smile. "You've got a fine memory. Once I learned that the triplets were born, I arranged for a little visit."

"Headmistress of Hogwart's?" Derrick asked.

"Twice, yes. Formerly of course."

"And Minister?" Derrick continued.

"Of Magic, yes. Twice, also formerly."

"You've had a busy life," Adam commented, pulling a wooden chair from the kitchen so he could sit near Emily while still addressing the woman in the red chair.

"Eight years as Minister, then retired." James interrupted. "Twelve years as Headmistress, then retired again. Came out of retirement after the assignation of Minister Keyrin, held the post for fifteen years, and retired again. Finally, Headmistress again for twenty-eight years, before retiring."

"Now I dabble with the Department of Mysteries, part time of course." The way she giggled and squirmed at her own resume made Adam and Derrick think that this old woman had complete lost her marbles.

"Very well," Adam spoke up, determined to hear her out. "What do we owe the pleasure, Minister."

"The attack of your family today, I feel, has been a long time coming. Some of us in the Department of Mysteries have postulated that a string of ancient texts may have been written about you and your family, predicting events thousands of years before any of you were born. They don't mention names, of course, that'd be entirely too easy, but there are clues that some logical minds can unlock, and those clues perhaps show a pattern. They speak of the millennium, just a few days from now...or it could be another turn of the century, no one knows really."

"Come again?" Adam spoke for the entire room, utterly confused by every one of the witch's words.

"You all went to Salem's yes?" She asked of twins, triplets and Adam. Each nodded. "All sorted into the same house at school?"

"They're called dormitory's not houses in the United States," Sara added as the only one not confused about the differences between Hogwart's and Salem's. "But yes, we're all in Garner-Affleck."

The witch snorted through her nose, trying, and failing, to not sound rude. "I get that they had six children who were all magical, and yes, I get that they supported the American Magical Community, but naming a school dormitory after two actor's, really. And bad actors to boot, they were just a few years older than me, when I was your age. Worst Batman ever! Really."

"You were saying about the millennium?" Adam asked.

"I guess my real question, is what do you all know about prophecies?" the witch added. When no one responded, she continued. "Prophecies are obviously predictions of the future, some come to pass, and others do not. A vast majority of the resources of the Department of Mysteries is dedicated to capturing, identifying, researching and learning about prophecies. Many a wizard has gone quite mad following a literal interpretation of a prophecy, while others lives have been utterly ruined by ignoring them. Some come true, some do not, but all are studied. The Ministry of Magic has studied prophecies for thousands of years."

"Okay, you lost me." Ray spoke up, as his mother and father had moved into the circle, quite curious to find out what the witch was talking about.

"Well," she continued with a smile from the comfort of the red leather chair. "That's why I'm here. I believe one of our most ancient prophecies is coming to pass, that it pertains your family, and although officially I'm here to confirm or refute certain theories, I'll admit I just kind of want to witness it if it does come true." The witch spoke in a manner far younger than her age, almost giddy and excited to share this news.

"Why the interest?" asked Derrick, his curiosity peaked.

"Oh, I've been involved with prophecies for the better part of my life," she answered. "I find them fascinating, even if I think the subject of Divination is a fools-errand. I've been involved in a few; some of them were quite a big deal. My very best friend had his entire life shaped by a prophecy to a degree, and my late husband and I spent the better part of our life together studying prophecies as a sort of hobby. It's really quite intriguing."

"So there's a prophecy about one of us?" Adam asked.

"If it's about you, it's about your entire family. Well," she smiled at him. "The magical family in this room, anyway."

"And you said it's an old prophecy?" asked Derrick.

"Hmm, yes. Over two thousand years old give or take. Record keeping that long ago is spotty at best."

"What's it say?" squeaked Alison, unsure if she should speak.

"Excellent question Miss Bumble," the witch beamed at her. "I have it here somewhere, James?" James was already digging to his satchel and produced a piece of parchment that didn't look nearly old enough as the witch suggested. Upon noticing their faces, she smiled. "Oh, this isn't the original, it's stored in the Department of Mysteries in a crystal sphere. Normally, you can't read a prophecy unless you are the one about whom it is written. However, in this case, the identity is unknown so anyone can access it. It's funny too, because this may be the first ever account about magical numbers. We never know where some of the things we believe come from; magical numbers, Beatle the Bard, and so on. Much of it is from ancient prophecies that we just sort of accept over time. No one knows why."

"Okay, I'm lost again." Added Ray, looking confused.

"Don't worry, you'll understand in a minute. Now bear in mind, this is over two thousand years old. Things during that time were obviously different and we have to use terms from that time, to define their meaning in our time. Therein lays the mystery. Does a river mean a river, or perhaps a hose pipe described by someone born a thousand years before it was invented. You get the idea."

The witch cleared her throat and looked down at the parchment. "This is so exciting," she smiled to her great-grandson.

_From a line without magic, it will no longer be denied.  
Life finds a way to survive.  
From none, comes one,  
he leads a strong path.  
Time brings two more,  
Three become greater than two, greater than one.  
Not father's to sons,  
their family is their bond.  
All play their part,  
in the evil undone.  
The hope of this family, the hope of us all,  
after three comes one more,  
ensuring that evil does fall.  
Every season grows them stronger than the millennium before,  
what comes after three is one,  
with the power of four.  
To send evils queen back to eternal slumber,  
One and two and three and one.  
Seven,  
The most powerfully magical number._

When the older with finished reading the prophecy she looked up to see all eyes of the room on her. The Muggle's in the room rightfully had no idea what she was talking about, and even the magical folk looked puzzled. She sat quietly waiting for her words to sink in.

"Come again?" Matt asked, looking at his twin brother. "Yeah, I think I need to hear that again."

"Me too," said Sara. In fact all of Sara's relatives were nodding.

The woman read the prophecy aloud three more times, each time drawing different verbal reactions from different people at different parts.

"What're your questions," she asked them.

Adam stepped forward looking puzzled and rubbing the stubble of his beard. "Minister, you've studied this prophecy in great detail. Why don't you tell us what you think it means."

"You don't want to have a go?" she smiled and was not surprised to see everyone shaking their heads in disapproval. "Well it's all just theory really, but I'm pretty sure we can prove some aspects of it if we put our minds together.

"The first line was what intrigued me when I first read it," she continued. "'From a line without magic, it will no longer be denied.' Two thousand years ago almost everyone was obsessed with blood lines, so to speak of a muggleborn was almost unheard of as most muggleborn wizards were burned at the stake. So, this tells me magic will spring forth in a bloodline previously without magic.

"I think 'from none comes one' refers to Adam, the first wizard in your family. 'Three become greater than two, greater than one' it seems pretty logical that its referring to the twin and triplet wizards and witches that followed in your blood line. Muggleborns are generally all or nothing, it's incredibly rare that more than one Muggleborn comes out of a given family, and to my knowledge it's never happened in the same generation."

"Same generation?" Derrick asked, confused by their age difference.

"You are all from the same generation in your family. Not years, but generation. All of your parents are siblings, correct? You are all first cousins, even if your age different is significant?"

Adam nodded for the group; everyone hanging on the witch's every word.

"Prophecies are simply predictions, they can be right or they can be wrong. My friend I mentioned, the prophecy about him could have been about several people. The same thing with you lot, we've been watching the worldwide magical community for years, trying to find the right set of circumstances in Muggleborn magical families, and it never panned out. Even the offspring of Muggleborn's is a miss because of the line "Not father's to sons…" which implies the people of which the prophecy is speaking are not direct descendants of one another."

"One and two and three and one, make seven." Adam said aloud.

"That's basically it." She smiled.

"Wait a sec," Sara piped up. "One being Adam, which is kinda creepy since his name is Adam and I'm pretty sure somewhere that name means "first."

"There's the scholar I've heard about, go on!" the witch encouraged Sara to keep thinking it through.

"Two is obviously, Matt and Derrick, but no offense; they're not twice what Adam is, are they?"

"Definitely not," laughed Matt.

"Really? Didn't you dispatch Jon Alvitre and two other attackers yesterday without any assistance." Said Adam.

The boys lowered their heads, embarrassed and nodded.

"Adam, do you think at your age you could've done that?" she asked him.

"Definitely, not." Adam answered her.

"Okay," Sara continued. "So that's debatable, anyway, the 'three' that's the three of us. Are you telling me we're stronger then the boys?"

"Alison dropped at pretty bitchin' patronus, commanded it, sent it two-thousand miles away and communicated through it." Adam interjected, understanding the witches point.

"Not really a third year skillset, Sara." Said Derrick.

"Or seventh year, for that matter." Matt added with a laugh. "If I can get my patronus to talk it's like a bad Kung Fu movie, mouth moving with weird syllables coming out at random times."

"It's true, his patronus needs sub-titles, for real." Added Derrick.

"You three may not be there yet, but it seems like someone thinks you will be one day." The witch reached out to her great-grandson, James, and handed him back the parchment. "The prophecy says you will all be instrumental in ending some evil witch in the future."

"Is that why the man on the cliff wanted to spill my blood?" Sara asked softly. Her mother was already horrified enough without hearing about some masked man trying to cut her daughter.

"Yes, and no." the old witch sighed. Her tone softened. "Sara, I'm sorry we interrupted your thought while you were trying to understand the prophecy. Would you like to continue?"

"I was done, I think."

"No, you had more, there's more to it. Think." She continued to push Sara's mind, enjoying tremendously watching a young and eager mind blossom before her eyes.

Sara shook her head.

"It's okay, we're all guessing here, there's no wrong answer."

"Okay," Sara surrendered with a very soft voice. "Something doesn't add up."

"What's that?"

"No, I mean it literally. It doesn't add up, one and two and three are six, not seven."

"She's a quick one." The witched smiled. "You're correct, one plus two plus three is six. To go back to your question if that was why the man on the cliff wanted to spill your blood. This is a point of great disagreement with this particular prophecy. Some people believe as I do that the line 'Not father's to sons' means that you all will not be descendants of each other, which you are not. Others believe a more literal interpretation to the word 'sons.' They believe the key lies in the witches in your family. 'Not fathers to sons' means to them 'Fathers to daughters' so they're concerned about yours and your sisters offspring. Which is completely ridiculous, but still, it's a theory. So, yes, he was trying to spill your blood because he believes your offspring are the key to this prophecy being fulfilled. If he's right, and prevents you from having children…well, you get the idea. I'm certain his belief is incorrect, but that doesn't help because he still believes it."

Matt rolled his eyes at Derrick who had brought two chairs in from the kitchen. He and his twin took a seat near the witch, urging her to continue.

"So who's the other one, then." Piped up Alison. "One, and two and three and one make seven.' If it's not Sara's or my future child, then who is it? Is one of our other cousins magical and not know it?"

"Now that's a very interesting question, and the source of great headache to me. This is the lone hole in my theory of 'Not fathers to sons' because I'm basically applying a line from the prophecy to translate one part and completely ignoring it when translating another. This is the only flaw in what I think, but to my opposition it's glaring, and it also proves their theory correct."

Matt laughed at the witch, what she said made almost no sense at all.

"No, I know I'm right, but the evidence I use to support my theory proves theirs. It's infuriating." The old woman seemed quite animate and passionate about this prophecy, even if her logic appeared flawed. "One is Adam, clearly. Two are the twins, and three are the triplets. One," she pointed to Adam with a single boney finger. "and Two," her slender hand moved towards the twins with two fingers extended. "and Three," she pointed at the couch where the triplets sat. "and One." She pointed to Emily's body lying on the floor. Someone in the room gasped.

"Oh, man," said Derrick. "In the excitement I totally forgot about Cherry. Oh, I'm so sorry..." he gave Adam a pleading look which Adam promptly waved off.

Everyone turned and looked at Emily, obviously Derrick wasn't the only one who'd forgotten about her.

"No offense Lady, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but Emily's deceased," said Matt.

"Really?" the witch gasped, placing her hand on her chest. This woman was too bright to not notice a body lying on the floor; Adam thought perhaps she was being sarcastic. "How do you know?"

"Because I saw her fall," barked Matt in return with the sound of hostility and annoyance in his voice.

"As did I," Adam said, crossing his arms.

"And I," added Derrick.

"And from which Medical School did you graduate?" she smiled too playfully.

"Huh?" Matt was confused.

"It was Avada Kedavra, lady." Adam raised his voice. "I was there, I saw it, I heard the command, I watched her fall. I've read enough to know the Killing Curse is an unforgiveable curse in the UK, so don't act like you've never heard of it. Do you think you're funny? You're great-grandson looks like a solid fighter. Keep the cheek up and we're all gonna find out real quick just how solid."

The witch smiled sincerely after wiping the sarcastic look off her face. "I'm merely curious if anyone actually checked the poor girl's body to confirm what you're saying."

Adam leapt forward pulling a wooden chair out of his way. He knelt down by Emily's shoulder and pulled the hood off of her face. Nothing had changed in her expression; she still stared off into nothingness. Adam looked up to the old woman.

"A simple medical diagnostic spell should confirm." The woman added, now looking down at her fingernails.

Adam pulled out his wand, held it flat in his hand and muttered a spell just below a whisper. His wand spun around in his hand, pointing at Emily's head then spinning and pointing towards her feet.

"Oh, Jesus," Adam gasped through choked tears, forcing back a smile. "She's here, is she stunned?" He looked pleadingly to the former Minister.

"A simple 'Innervate' should do it," the woman smiled at him.

Adam snapped his wand and Emily gasped for a deep breath, coughing. The entire room erupted in shock as Emily came to a moment of hysterical fear trying to understand what had happened. Adam comforted her and held her down calming her with his voice, telling her she was free of danger. Every relative of Adam's couldn't believe what they had just seen. Some had mouths agape, others with tears in their eyes. Matt and Derrick were hugging each other, while the triplets had all leapt onto the floor to be near Emily.

It took several minutes for the room to calm down; finally after getting their due hugs, sharing a quick cry together, and getting Emily into a wooden chair did the room become quiet.

"Grandma," Emily said slightly louder than a normal conversation voice. "Cherry, needs a drink." She held her arm extended with her hand holding an imaginary cup.

"So does Grandma," said Grandma Martha as she shuffled into the kitchen to make herself and Emily two very strong drinks.

Grandma returned quickly and handed a full glass to Emily. She took two big sips before moving the cold glass to a bruise on her cheek. Adam sat next to her holding her hand.

"Okay," Derrick began. "Not to be a turd, but what the hell."

"In the entire history of magic," the witch stood up. "Only one wizard has ever survived a direct hit from a Killing Curse. Just one, and he did it twice, that is until today. I knew this man before he died, in a sick sort of way he was very proud of that record. You all are lucky he's not alive to see he'd have to share, I'm sure he'd be quite grumpy about it."

"You're not making any sense," said Adam.

"I've told you, one, and two, and three and one." She repeated, pointing to each person. "Seven."

"But Em's not family," said Ray, looking ashamed as if he said something insulting to her, but Emily smiled back at him.

"Not her," said the witch. "Her baby!"

For a room with fifteen confused people in it, the silence was deafening. Each relative, Muggle or magical rapidly searched each other's faces for confirmation.

"What?" whispered Adam. He turned to look at Emily who wore the same shocked look on her face as everyone else in the room.

"Don't look at me." Emily said quickly to Adam.

"What'd the diagnostic spell tell you, Adam?" He pulled out his wand a repeated the spell quickly and held his wand over Emily's waist.

"Holy shit!" he gasped.

"Holy shit, what? Holy shit?" Emily pleaded, before quickly gaining her composure and putting her hands on her stomach. She shifted in her seat and wrapped her arms around Adam playfully. "Does this mean you'll rub my feet now, Daddy?"

"Oh my god!" Adam stood up running his hands through his hair looking panicked.

The rest of the room began to react to the news that Emily was indeed pregnant. Ladies squealed and men hollered. Adam's sister Janis began asking Nicholas if he wanted to have a baby cousin to play with. People began hugging each other and cheering for Adam and Emily; everyone except for Sara.

"Minister?" she asked softly, but the room seemed to anticipate they'd gotten off easy. An explanation was due. "Minister, how'd Cherry survive a Killing Curse? Why aren't she and her baby both killed?"

The old witch smiled and walked over to Sara who was back sitting on the couch again, looking confused. The witch bent down to look Sara in the eyes. The child looked sad, and held her head down.

"You're a bright one, you know that?" the witch encouraged her. "You see so much more than everyone else, your knowledge is your weapon. It makes you strong."

"Not strong enough to cast a patronus like Ali," Sara conceded.

"Not yet, no. So you're sister's strong, that doesn't mean you're without strengths."

"But the prophecy said we're stronger than Adam, Matt and Derrick, but I think it's wrong."

"Because as a child you couldn't beat grown wizards?" she asked the girl, and Sara nodded. "I wouldn't expect that you could. Like I said your knowledge is your power, your understanding. That friend I told you about was a great leader and a great fighter. He had a hot head, overburdened himself, and I could slam spells into his shield charms that would send him flying, but he was a better fighter, I never won a duel against him. My late husband; genius tactician. I've forgotten more than he ever knew about magic, but he could see things in battle I'd need to have drawn out for me on parchment. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, but what's clear is that you and your family are very important."

"Yeah," said Matt curiously. "What's this great evil its talking about. Do we even know?"

"Not a clue, but when it gets here it's clear you all will have a great deal to do with its defeat. However, today's attack showed that some people are paying attention already."

The witch answered a few more questions, but began making subtle hints that she wanted to leave. Adam, Emily, Derrick and Matt made arrangements after the holidays to meet and begin educating themselves on this prophecy. The witch indicated there were more predictions and research but none as in depth as the prophecy she shared.

As the witch's great-grandson disappeared into the fire, the witch turned to see Emily, Sara and Adam seeing her off. She smiled at each one of them, before turning to look down at Sara. She leaned forward on her walking stick to lower herself to the child's eye level.

"You still have a question, Miss Bumble?" Sara nodded with a soft smile on her face. "Very well, ask away, I'm not getting any younger."

"Minister, how did Cherry survive the Killing Curse?"

The witch smiled a bright toothy smile. "I tell ya what, I'll answer your question, if you answer mine. Sound fair?"

Sara smiled brightly while nodding.

"Very well, you seem quite bright, catching on more than most. I ask this 'yes' or 'no' question just to see if you're as bright as you appear to be. Do you know who I am?"

Sara nodded immediately, "Yes!"

"Don't say it," the witch cackled. "Lord, don't say it; let me get out of here with some dignity. You continue with your studies dear one, and remember what I said about knowledge. I'm sure we'll meet again." She turned and began to walk towards the grate when Sara stopped her by pulling on her cloak. The witch turned, "Oh, yes, right." Leaning forward she whispered a sentence into the child's ear. Once finished she stood up, looked down at Sara and smiled. With one side step she was inside the grate, engulfed in green flames and then gone.

Everyone looked to Sara, "What did she say?" came impassioned pleas for information. "What did she tell you?"

Sara smiled, "She told me I was right."

"About?" Asked Matt.

"How Cherry survived."

"How'd she know what you thought?" asked Derrick.

"She read my mind with Legilimens." Sara said casually and as a matter of fact.

"So," begged Emily, playfully smacking Sara on the leg. "How'd I survive?"

Sara smiled again, "The prophecy said your baby has the power of four. Imagine how strong the baby is if it protected its mother from a Killing Curse while in the womb."

Emily put both hands on her stomach and looked down while Adam joined her with one of his hands. She smiled a teary smile as Adam kissed her lips and hugged her with his free arm. As the shock of the afternoons events wore off the mood of the room became decidedly more excited for Emily's pregnancy.

Once Adam was finally comfortable not being in physical contact with Emily after nearly losing her, he motioned for Sara to come over to where he and Emily sat. She walked up and stood in front of them.

"You made quite an impression on that witch; I told you you're studies are what make you special. Now do you believe me?"

Sara nodded.

"Any idea what you two hit it off so well?" Emily asked, still holding her stomach.

"I think we have a lot in common, and it seems that she does too." She answered.

"So are you gonna tell us who she is?" asked Adam.

Sara smiled and allowed her mind to daydream at what the future might hold. Sometime in the future a great evil was going to rise and she and her family were going to have to do something about it. She thought quickly that she didn't nearly know as much as she would like on the eve of a war. A fire ignited inside the girl's chest and she promised herself, she'd be ready, not matter how many books she's have to read.

As Sara snapped back into the present time from her day dream she saw Adam and Cherry looking directly at her, waiting for an answer.

"Oh, the witch," Sara laughed. "She's Hermione Weasley, the last surviving member of the Golden Trio, who helped end a wizard named—"

"Voldemort," Emily interrupted. "I heard about him, but that was like a hundred years ago, wasn't it." Adam shrugged.

"She was just a little older than me at the time."

"Wow, she has had a busy life." Adam added. "Jeez, that's one cool witch."

"Yeah, she is." Sara sighed, looking determined. "She also the greatest Muggleborn in the history of magic."


End file.
